16th August Science Week

It is Science Week! If I was at school there would be a wonderful display of books for students to borrow, but we are home in lockdown. Today while planning lessons and locating poems that had a science focus, I thought of all the wonderful poetry books on the shelves at school that would have been helpful.

Here's a list:

* Spectacular Science by Lee Bennett Hopkins

* Our Big Home  by Linda Glaser and Elisa Kleven

* Thank You Earth by April Pulley Sayre 

  

* Volcano Wakes Up by Lisa Westberg Peters and Steve Jenkins

* Earthshake  by Lisa Westberg Peters and Cathie Felstead

* Ubiquitous by Joyce Sidman and Beckie Prange

* Red Sings from the Treetops by Joyce Sidman and Pamela Zagarenski

* Dark Emperor by Joyce Sidman and Rick Allen (in fact nearly anything by Joyce Sidman)

* Anything by Helen Frost and Rick Lieder

* Anything by Douglas Florian

* A Leaf Can Be

* Water Can Be

* A Rock Can Be  by Laura Salas

 

7th July Global Forgiveness Day

July 7th is celebrated as Global Forgiveness Day. Forgiving someone, asking for forgiveness and apologising are often not easy things to do. It  is something we work hard on with the very young children I teach. Teachers often burst into the library saying, 'Quick I need a book about forgiveness for circle time.' And of course no book does exactly what they want, but I often use these to get teachers started.

18th February Pamela Zagarenski

Today at school I put one of my favourite poetry books out on display, Red Sings From  Treetops. It is a favourite because its illustrator, Pamela Zagarenski is one of my top 10 favourite illustrators. And then tonight when I checked the blogs I follow I saw that it was her birthday today. Thank you Eric at Happy Birthday Author. If you do not know her work you must go to the library immediately and check out these three books. Her illustrations are superb. Her newest book, The Whisper,  Pamela both wrote and illustrated, the first of hopefully many books. It is on a theme close to my heart, the joy of reading.

 

4th June Joyce Sidman (1956)

I've just finished writing the library newsletter for this term and it had poetry as its focus. Currently one of my favourite poets is Joyce Sidman so I was very pleased to learn that today was her birthday. I really like the way she combines poetry with science, and always seems to get the balance right. I don't know whether she has any influence over who illustrates her books, but if she doesn't, she has been very fortunate. Her books are inspiring, text-wise and illustration-wise. The three books we have in our library, Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature's Survivors ; Red Sings From Treetops: a Year in Colours and Night Emperor and Other Poems of the Night are just perfect! Perfect too for celebrating World Environment Day tomorrow!

11th January Caldecott Award Announcement

Yesterday, the American Library Association presented its top awards. The one I am always most interested in is the Caldecott Award and this year it went to illustrator Erin E. Stead for A Sick Day for Amos McGee which is written by her husband Philip C. Stead. Often I have to go and buy the book because it hasn't been released widely in Australia, but this year I won't need to, as we have this book in the library. It is a very gentle story about a zookeeper who gets a cold and therefore does not go to the zoo, so his worried animals come to visit him. The illustrations are delicate woodblock prints and as you know if you have been reading this blog, linoprints are my very favourite pieces of art, so yes I do like this book!

Another book with stunning linoprint illustrations by Rick Allen, won its author, the poet Joyce Sidman a Newbery Honor Medal. It is Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night. This lovely book of twelve poems appeals to all age groups because of its illustrations and sensual language. I was hoping her other book, Ubiquitous would be honoured in the Caldecott awards, but I can live with this alternative. On Joyce's website there is a trailer for Dark Emperor. The soundtrack is haunting and inviting at the same time and it makes you wish that some books did come with accompanying sound effects.

And thirdly, of interest for my clientele, Bink and Gollie by Kate DiCamillo, Alison McGhee and Tony Fucile won the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for a book for beginning readers. It is already popular in my library.